Test Time!

Tuesday was finally the day of Neve's big Early Intervention evaluation.  She and Traci went on their own to spend 2.5 hours with three child development specialists to determine what kind of aid she may need.  Although Nevie was a little shy around the strangers, she did a great job doing almost everything they asked of her.  (And, she never cried once over the entire 2+ hour stretch!)  The bad news is that she will need physical therapy four times a month, as we expected.  The good news is that the Physical Therapist in attendance firmly believes that Neve will be caught up in no time.  It was pretty amazing actually:  within about five minutes of watching Neve, the PT confidently said, "I think I know what is going on here."  (And, I thought, "Finally, somebody does!")  After watching Neve's hyperflexibility in her hip area, the PT believes that she displays signs of low muscle tone, which is a condition that causes difficulty in motor skill development.  (Essentially, it takes a lot more work for a person with low muscle tone to complete a motor activity than those with normal tone.  Big Brother Michael was actually found to have the same low muscle tone, which contributed to his struggles with speech.  Think of the bazillions of muscles needed to talk correctly and fluently.)  This low muscle tone probably caused Neve to skip a lot of steps essential to learning to crawl and walk (rolling over, sitting up from a laying position, pulling up to stand, etc.), so the PT wants Neve to sort of start from scratch and learn these skills.  Each skill will build on each other and eventually you will never know she had any of these difficulties.  We know she will not be happy in physical therapy, but we will definitely take this versus the alternatives!  She is already starting to "almost" roll over in bed and she has been pulling up to her knees, so maybe she knows it's time...  We'll keep you updated!